Privacy Policy

Version 1.0 — Effective March 30, 2026

1. Preamble and Scope

1.1 Operator Identity

SiteHunter.io LLC, a Texas limited liability company (“SiteHunter,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the website located at https://sitehunter.io and all associated subdomains, APIs, and services (collectively, the “Service”). Our principal place of business is in Austin, Texas.

1.2 Geographic Scope

The Service is directed exclusively to residents of the United States. By accessing or using the Service, you represent that you are located in the United States. We do not intentionally collect data from, or direct the Service toward, residents of the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom, or Canada.

1.3 Two Categories of Data Subjects

This Policy addresses two distinct categories of data: (a) Platform User Data — information collected from registered users of the Service (freelance web developers and agencies); and (b) Business Subject Data — information about third-party businesses surfaced in search results, derived from publicly accessible sources. These categories are handled differently and described separately in this Policy.

1.4 Effective Date and Updates

This Policy is effective as of March 30, 2026. We may update this Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify registered users by email at the address associated with their account at least thirty (30) days before the changes take effect. Continued use of the Service after the effective date of any updated Policy constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

2. Platform User Data — What We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide Directly

• Email address — required to create and maintain your account.
• Password — stored as a one-way cryptographic hash. We never store your password in plaintext and cannot retrieve it.
• Search query inputs — the business type and city or geographic location you enter when initiating a market scan.

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

• IP Address — collected at account creation and during active sessions. Used for fraud detection, multiple-account prevention, and rate limiting.
• Device and Browser Metadata — browser type, operating system, device type, and screen resolution.
• Usage Logs — pages visited, features used, search results viewed, credit transactions, and timestamps.
• Local Browser Storage — user interface preferences stored in your browser’s local storage. This data remains on your device and is not transmitted to our servers.

2.3 Payment and Transaction Data

Payment card data (card number, CVV, expiration date) is never transmitted to or stored by SiteHunter.io. All payment processing is performed by our third-party payment processor. We receive and retain only: a tokenized payment method identifier, the last four digits of your card number, transaction confirmation numbers, and credit balance records.

2.4 Information We Do Not Collect

We do not collect Social Security numbers, government identification, or financial account numbers. We do not collect sensitive personal information as defined under California law beyond what is disclosed. We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under 18 years of age.

3. Business Subject Data — Third-Party Business Information

3.1 Categories of Business Data Collected

3.2 Nature of Business Data Collection

3.2.1 Publicly Accessible Sources. All business data is sourced exclusively from publicly accessible sources. These include public business listing services, publicly accessible websites, and publicly available email addresses associated with business domains. We do not purchase data from private data brokers, and we do not access any non-public or password-protected systems to obtain business data.

3.2.2 Business Entities Only. Our data collection targets business entities only. The information we collect — business name, business address, business phone number, business website, and business email — pertains to commercial entities operating in the public marketplace, not to private individuals. If a sole proprietor’s personal information appears in a public business listing, that information may be included in our dataset as business data.

3.2.3 Automated Website Analysis. Our Service uses automated HTTP requests to publicly accessible websites to evaluate website quality signals. This analysis examines only publicly visible characteristics of the website (SSL status, mobile responsiveness, page structure, load performance) and does not attempt to access restricted areas, submit forms, create accounts, or extract private data from any website.

3.3 Longitudinal Quality Score Retention

SiteHunter.io maintains a proprietary longitudinal dataset that tracks website quality scores for individual businesses over time. This dataset contains business data only — not personal data of platform users. Longitudinal records are retained indefinitely as part of our core dataset and are not subject to individual deletion requests, as they do not constitute personal information under applicable privacy laws.

4. How We Use Platform User Data

4.1 Service Operation and Account Management

We use your Platform User Data to:

• Create, authenticate, and maintain your account.
• Process search queries and deliver search results.
• Track and manage your credit balance.
• Process payments through our third-party payment processor.
• Provide customer support and respond to inquiries.
• Maintain your search history and saved results.

4.2 Fraud Prevention and Abuse Enforcement

We use IP addresses, device metadata, and usage patterns to:

• Detect and prevent fraudulent account creation.
• Enforce our one-account-per-user policy.
• Identify and block automated abuse or scraping of the Service.
• Enforce rate limits to maintain Service availability.

4.3 Communications

We use your email address to send:

• Transactional emails — account verification, password reset, purchase confirmations, and credit balance notifications. These are necessary for account operation and cannot be opted out of.
• Marketing emails — product updates, new features, and promotional offers. You may opt out of marketing emails at any time by clicking the “unsubscribe” link in any marketing email or by contacting us at support@sitehunter.io.

4.4 Service Improvement

We use aggregated and de-identified usage data to:

• Analyze how the Service is used to identify areas for improvement.
• Monitor system performance and reliability.
• Develop new features and capabilities.
• Conduct internal research and analytics.

4.5 Legal Compliance

We may use your data as necessary to comply with applicable laws, respond to valid legal processes, or protect our legal rights.

5. Disclosure of Platform User Data to Third Parties

5.1 Third-Party Service Providers

We disclose Platform User Data to the following categories of service providers who process data on our behalf:

Providers that receive user account data:

Providers that receive search query data only:

5.2 Other Disclosures

5.2.1 Legal Requirements. We may disclose your data if required by law, subpoena, court order, or other valid legal process, or if we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request.

5.2.2 Business Transfers. In the event of a merger, acquisition, reorganization, bankruptcy, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, your data may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you via email and/or a prominent notice on the Service of any change in ownership or uses of your personal information.

5.2.3 No Sale of Personal Information. We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes. For purposes of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA), we do not “sell” or “share” personal information as those terms are defined under California law.

5.2.4 No Third-Party Marketing. We do not disclose your personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes.

6. Automated Decision-Making and AI Systems

6.1 Website Quality Scoring System

SiteHunter.io employs a proprietary automated scoring system that evaluates publicly accessible business websites on multiple quality dimensions. This scoring system analyzes technical characteristics of business websites — including SSL certificate status, mobile responsiveness, HTML structure, page load performance, and design currency indicators — to generate a composite quality score.

This scoring system operates exclusively on Business Subject Data (publicly accessible business websites) and does not analyze, profile, or make decisions about Platform Users. The scores are provided to Platform Users as informational outputs to assist in their own business development decisions.

6.2 AI-Assisted Audit Verification System (In Development)

We are developing an AI-assisted system that may use AI models to verify and enhance the accuracy of automated website quality assessments. If deployed, this system will:

• Process only Business Subject Data (publicly accessible website content).
• Not process Platform User personal data for profiling or automated decision-making.
• Operate under human oversight with manual review capabilities.

We will update this Privacy Policy before deploying any AI system that processes personal data in new ways.

6.3 Human-in-the-Loop Data Curation

All automated data collection and scoring systems are subject to human review processes. Our data quality team reviews automated outputs for accuracy, and Platform Users may report data quality issues through the Service interface.

7. Data Retention

7.1 Platform User Data Retention

7.2 Business Subject Data Retention

Business Subject Data, including longitudinal quality score records, is retained indefinitely as part of our core business dataset. This data pertains to business entities and their publicly accessible websites, not to individual persons, and is not subject to individual deletion requests under applicable privacy laws.

7.3 Ephemeral Data

Certain data is processed transiently and not retained beyond the immediate processing session.

8. Data Security

8.1 Security Measures

We implement reasonable administrative, technical, and physical security measures to protect your data, including:

• Encryption of data in transit using TLS/SSL.
• Encryption of sensitive data at rest.
• One-way cryptographic hashing of passwords (passwords are never stored in plaintext).
• Access controls limiting employee access to personal data on a need-to-know basis.
• Regular security assessments and monitoring.
• Secure API authentication for all service-to-service communications.

8.2 Acknowledgment of Risk

No method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially reasonable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

8.3 Your Responsibilities

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials. You should use a strong, unique password and should not share your login information with any third party. Notify us immediately at support@sitehunter.io if you believe your account has been compromised.

9. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

9.1 Essential Session Data

We use essential session cookies or equivalent mechanisms to maintain your authenticated session while you are logged into the Service. These are strictly necessary for the Service to function and cannot be disabled.

9.2 User Preference Storage

We use browser local storage (not cookies) to store your user interface preferences, such as display settings and last-used search parameters. This data remains on your device and is not transmitted to our servers. You can clear this data at any time through your browser settings.

9.3 No Third-Party Advertising Trackers

We do not use third-party advertising cookies, tracking pixels, or similar technologies. We do not participate in advertising networks. We do not track your browsing activity across other websites. We do not build behavioral profiles for advertising purposes.

10. Your Privacy Rights

10.1 Rights Available to All U.S. Residents

Regardless of your state of residence, you may:

• Access the personal information we hold about you.
• Request deletion of your account and associated personal data.
• Opt out of marketing emails at any time.
• Update your account information through the Service interface.

10.2 California Residents — CCPA/CPRA Rights

If you are a California resident, you have the following additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act:

• Right to Know. You may request that we disclose the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the categories of sources, the business purpose for collection, and the categories of third parties with whom we share it.
• Right to Delete. You may request that we delete the personal information we have collected about you, subject to certain legal exceptions.
• Right to Correct. You may request that we correct inaccurate personal information we maintain about you.
• Right to Opt Out of Sale/Sharing. We do not sell or share your personal information as defined under California law. No opt-out is necessary, but we will honor any such request.
• Right to Limit Use of Sensitive Personal Information. We do not collect sensitive personal information as defined under California law beyond what is necessary to provide the Service.
• Right to Non-Discrimination. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA/CPRA rights.

CCPA Categories Disclosure: In the preceding 12 months, we have collected the following categories of personal information as defined by the CCPA: Identifiers (email address, IP address); Commercial information (credit purchase records, transaction history); Internet or electronic network activity (usage logs, pages visited, features used); and Geolocation data (derived from IP address — city/state level only, not precise location).

10.3 Texas Residents — TDPSA Rights

If you are a Texas resident, you have the following rights under the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act:

• Right to Access. You may confirm whether we are processing your personal data and access that data.
• Right to Correct. You may correct inaccuracies in your personal data.
• Right to Delete. You may request deletion of your personal data.
• Right to Data Portability. You may obtain a copy of your personal data in a portable, readily usable format.
• Right to Opt Out. You may opt out of the processing of personal data for targeted advertising, the sale of personal data, or profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects. We do not engage in any of these activities.

10.4 How to Submit a Privacy Rights Request

To exercise any of your privacy rights, you may:

• Email us at legal@sitehunter.io with the subject line “Privacy Rights Request.”
• Include your account email address and specify the right(s) you wish to exercise.

We will verify your identity by confirming ownership of the email address associated with your account. We will respond to verified requests within 45 days. If we need additional time (up to an additional 45 days), we will notify you of the extension and the reason.

10.5 Authorized Agent

You may designate an authorized agent to submit privacy rights requests on your behalf. Authorized agents must provide written proof of authorization signed by you, along with verification of the agent’s own identity. We may contact you directly to confirm the authorization.

11. Children’s Privacy

The Service is not directed to individuals under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected personal information from a child under 18, we will take steps to delete that information promptly. If you believe that a child under 18 has provided us with personal information, please contact us at legal@sitehunter.io.

12. Links to Third-Party Services

The Service may contain links to websites or services operated by third parties. This Privacy Policy does not apply to those third-party services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third-party websites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party services you access through links on our Service.

13. Contact Information

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your privacy rights, please contact us:

SiteHunter.io LLC
Austin, Texas 78751
Legal inquiries: legal@sitehunter.io
General support: support@sitehunter.io

14. Additional State-Specific Disclosures

14.1 Virginia — Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA)

Virginia residents have rights similar to those described in Sections 10.2 and 10.3, including the right to access, correct, delete, and obtain a copy of personal data, as well as the right to opt out of targeted advertising, sale of personal data, and profiling. We do not engage in targeted advertising, sale of personal data, or profiling as defined under the VCDPA. To exercise your rights, contact us at legal@sitehunter.io. If we decline your request, you may appeal by contacting us within 30 days, and we will respond to your appeal within 60 days.

14.2 Colorado — Colorado Privacy Act (CPA)

Colorado residents have the right to access, correct, delete, and obtain a portable copy of their personal data, as well as the right to opt out of targeted advertising, sale of personal data, and profiling. We do not engage in any of these activities. Colorado residents may exercise their rights by contacting us at legal@sitehunter.io. If we decline your request, you may appeal, and we will respond within 45 days. If the appeal is denied, you may contact the Colorado Attorney General.

14.3 Connecticut — Connecticut Data Privacy Act (CTDPA)

Connecticut residents have rights substantially similar to those provided under the Colorado Privacy Act, including the right to access, correct, delete, and obtain a portable copy of personal data, and the right to opt out of targeted advertising, sale of personal data, and profiling. We do not engage in any of these activities. Connecticut residents may exercise their rights by contacting us at legal@sitehunter.io. If we decline your request, you may appeal, and we will respond within 60 days.